After reading chapter 2 of The Code Book, by Simon Singh, I became interested in the Beale ciphers and treasure. I couldn't decide whether or not it was a hoax or a real thing. I thought, why would anyone go through the trouble of writing this intense cipher if it was never to be used? At first I thought it was real, but I soon changed my mind. The Beale ciphers consist of three entire pages of numbers. One of these pages has been solved. This solved message contains information about buried treasure. According to Beale, there is a large amount of gold, silver, and jewels buried in the ground somewhere in Bedford County, VA. Later, the message goes on to say that the exact location of the treasure is written in the first message and the intended receivers' of the treasure are written in the third message. Nobody could crack the code.
That was in 1821. It is now 2011. 190 years and the Beale ciphers remain unsolved. I truly believe it is a hoax. Even modern super-computers can't decipher the Beale papers. I think Thomas Jefferson Beale wanted to pull a huge prank on everybody in the world. Thousands of people attempt to decipher the Beale papers but are always unsuccessful. People even travel to Bedford County to search for the hidden treasure but nobody has ever found it. There is just no way.
Here is a link to a site claiming they have found the Beale treasure:
http://bealesolved.tripod.com/
Do you think they found the real Beale treasure? Post a comment.
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